Themes of Control and Society in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

This essay examines the prominent themes in George Orwell's dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, focusing on totalitarianism, control, and the manipulation of society. The paper delves into the oppressive nature of the government, symbolized by Big Brother, and its use of technology and propaganda to suppress individual freedom and thought. It explores how the government controls the lives of citizens, including their speech, expression, and even personal relationships, highlighting the dangers of unchecked power and the loss of civil liberties. The essay also draws parallels between the novel's themes and contemporary authoritarian regimes, such as that of North Korea, illustrating the continued relevance of Orwell's warnings about the erosion of freedom and the importance of resisting oppressive forces. The analysis considers the impact of communism and the destruction of individual liberties, concluding with a reminder of the importance of protecting individual rights and freedoms against governmental overreach.

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH LITERATURE
The purpose of the following paper is to discuss on the different themes of the novel of
George Orwell named Nineteen Eighty Four. It is regarded as one of the most influential writings
in the course of the modern political agendas in the society and other issues. This paper will look
to address the issues within the novel and explore some of the main themes within it. One of the
most important themes in the novel will have to be picked to see the impact of the plot scenario
of the novel in the lives of the human beings in the society (Orwell: 34). The relevance of the
novel should be discussed to find out the impact of the theme in the modern society. This
dystopian novel aims at pointing out the things that the governments could do to keep a watch
over the residents of the country.
The most important theme that has been used in this novel is regarding that of the form of
the totalitarian government and the attempts of the power greedy government officials to control
the activities of the common people of the country. The government tends to use the latest
advanced technology and manipulate the people through its use of the media. This theme has
become so much relevant today in many countries. The totalitarian government has the motive of
manipulating the people because the government officials do not want anything to be spoken
against them (Orwell: 34). If anyone has the guts to do this, they would be severely punished
indeed. In this novel, the character of Winston Smith lives in London and this London is not at
all a part of England or Europe. Rather this London is a part of Oceania. He has a low ranked
position in the Ministry of Truth and he will have to modify the records of the government so it
can promote the records of the government in a positive manner. This is how totalitarianism has
become one of the most important and major themes of the novel.
In the novel, the central figure of the government or the head is not properly known to the
common people. Thus it becomes very difficult for the common people to interact with the

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government and discuss about their issues and problems with them. In this type of the
government, the people are mainly forced to believe in the lies that have been disclosed by the
government. The government is not much reliable and the political figures alter the various truths
for their well being and positive reputation (Rodden: 23). This is how it becomes very much
clear that this type of the government always gives away to propaganda. This kind of
government practices becomes autocratic at a point of time and it unleashes its dictatorship on
the common people (Shlapentokh: 28). The information and the elements associated with the
government are presented in a manner that the people believe it is very much true and they
believe it with all their innocence. The theme of totalitarianism has posed a great threat to the
society and this novel has evidently brought out these threats and challenges.
George Orwell has given his best efforts to show the fact that the totalitarian government
will unfold its power and it utmost control over the common people. Another thing that this type
of totalitarian government will do is to take way the freedom of speech and expression from the
common people of the country (Rodden: 23). Therefore, it is quite evident that the personal
freedom of the residents of the country will be gone under this sort of government. It has been
described in the novel that someone named Big Brother is running the government. However, no
one has seen the Big Brother in the country (Awan, Ghafoor, and Raza: 26). The totalitarian
government under the regime will even dare to have a control over the sexual lives of a person
like Julia but they will also have the same amount of control on the personal thoughts of the
people as well. So, it is quite shameful that this kind of government will completely destroy the
freedom of the common people. This type of regime is seriously very harmful for the progress of
the country (Harsin: 329).

3ENGLISH LITERATURE
Some casualties have been identified by the author George Orwell. One of these is the
people being monitored and all their activities have been screened. It is definitely unwanted and
the government officials should be punished for this kind of behaviour. In today’s world, there
are some places where the people are treated under this kind of totalitarian regimes (Awan,
Ghafoor, and Raza: 26). This kind of single-party dictatorship is not the manner in which the
countries should be run because it completely destroys the democratic atmosphere all around the
world. This regime controlled by the Big Brother or the head of the government gets the access
over the lives of the common people. They will employ all types of brutal activities so the critics
will stop by themselves. This is the manner in which the totalitarian regimes think they can be
the single most dominating fact in the future of the country. (Huber: 27).
One of the examples that can b found about the totalitarian governments in today’s world
is of North Korea. The Prime Minister of the country Kim Jong-un has practiced a tremendous
range of barbaric execution on people whom he does not like (Harsin: 327). Many external
human rights organizations have submitted their reports on this issue but the issue is yet to be
resolved. Some ways in which he has silenced his critics are through infanticide, carrying out
public executions, extreme torture and the slave labour. Critics have opined that this kind of
behaviour will purely destroy the future progress of the country through all the means (Huber:
27). Nowadays, it has been reported that North Korea does not like to abide by the international
treaties and it imposes whatever it wants on the common people. There have been some huge
critiques on this issue as the totalitarian government regime will take away all sorts of powers
from the people of the country. In this novel, communism has been shown to have an immense
control over the society and it will inflict all sorts of torture to make people believe in what the
government officials and ministers think. Therefore, this will destroy the togetherness and

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harmony between the people of the country. Orweel had also noticed the role of communism and
he perceived that civil liberty of the common people had been destroyed along with the
economic strength of the country along with the honesty of the governments (Cushman and
Rodden: 33). Therefore, this type of totalitarian government in the current scenario will
definitely be like an infectious disease. Critics have reminded the common people about the
brutality of this sort of practice by all the means.
On a concluding note, it should be said that the form of the totalitarian government will
be very harmful for the growth of the society or the nation. The invention of the tele-screens in
the novel and its use to control the activities of the common people will not at all be a very
helpful thing for the welfare of the common people. In this discourse, people will have to protest
and get their rights back. In the present scenario, the example of the totalitarian government can
be seen through Kim Jong-un and North Korea. The situation will worsen and people will see the
ill fate of common people.

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Works Cited
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Cushman, Thomas, and John Rodden. George Orwell: into the twenty-first century. Routledge,
2015.
Huber, Peter. Orwell's revenge: The 1984 palimpsest. Simon and Schuster, 2015.
Orwell, George. "Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949." The Complete Novels 7 (1990).
Rød, Espen Geelmuyden, and Nils B. Weidmann. "Empowering activists or autocrats? The
Internet in authoritarian regimes." Journal of Peace Research 52.3 (2015): 338-351.
Shlapentokh, Dmitry. The Proto-totalitarian State: Punishment and Control in Absolutist
Regimes. Routledge, 2017.
Zolyan, Solan. "Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered." Σημειωτκή-Sign
Systems Studies 43.1 (2015): 131-149.